Pramaggiore, Maria (2015) The Taming of the Bronies: Animals, Autism and Fandom as Therapeutic Performance. Journal of Film and Screen Media, 9. ISSN 2009-4078

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Abstract

In defining and defending the Brony fandom, scholars and journalists emphasise the way these primarily adult male fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic challenge traditional gender norms. These accounts fail to examine the significance of the horse to the Bronies’ bid for non-normative masculinities. This article focuses on the implicitly therapeutic function of the animated equine, reading the fandom’s discourse about itself in two documentaries within the context of a contemporary (and often antifeminist) rhetoric that links adolescent masculinity to forms of disability that are ameliorated through Equine Assisted Therapy. This therapeutic resonance—based on the characteristic movement of horses—is situated within a broader history of cinema and visual culture in which horses have typically been recruited as vehicles of physical and psychic transport.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Taming; Bronies; Animals; Autism; Fandom; Therapeutic Performance;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Arts,Celtic Studies and Philosophy > School of English, Media & Theatre Studies > Media Studies
Item ID:	12981
Depositing User:	Maria Pramaggiore
Date Deposited:	02 Jun 2020 09:59
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Film and Screen Media
Publisher:	Alphaville
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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